Worms, Mites and chickens oh my???

[Jlwarn92]

Hey everyone! I am sorry in advance for the long post, but I need to seek some advice from the experts. I have a flock of 5 that are about 10 months old and I feel like I am fighting a losing battle. Two months ago I found red roost mites in the coop during my weekly check. I treated the whole flock, and the coop with Permethrin and repeated as directed. After treatment I also painted the interior of the coop white so I could spot them easier if they should return. I check the roosting bars once a week at night with a white sheet of paper and have not found any more signs on them. Then a month later I found large dead round worms in my olive eggers poop. I treated the whole flock with safe guard equine paste, doing 25 ml per pound of bird for five days straight. I do not see anymore worms but my olive egger is still having really runny poops.

Now today I noticed one of my barred Rocks has multiple red bites along her legs. Is it possible this is just mosquito bites? We live in Florida and at night the mosquitos are quite bad, but will they bite chickens like this? Or are the red coop mites back? Another option is fire ants, as there is no shortage of those either.

As I mentioned we live in Florida and it’s usually hot and humid. My five are in a 8x8 hoop coop with a raised 4x5 coop inside that they use only for sleeping and laying. I clean the coop and the run daily of poop. They get the occasional treat but I have stopped all treats and I have only been feeding organic all flock crumbles since finding and treating the round worms. They free range for a couple hours a day while we are home but are otherwise kept in the run.

Is there anymore I can do or anything I did wrong in either of my treatments? Thanks again!

 

[Debbie292d]

It sounds to me like you're a great chicken mom!

After worming, they need probiotics, like Greek yogurt, fermented feed, Hydro Hen, ACV with mother (1 TBS/gallon every other day at most), etc.

As for the bites on the feet, mites can do that. I hate to say retreat them all but seems that's what I'd do. Some won't agree with me on this, but we've kept mites at bay here on our silkies which can be a challenge, by sprinkling food-grade diatomaceous earth bi-monthly.

Good luck!

 

[dawg53]

Hey everyone! I am sorry in advance for the long post, but I need to seek some advice from the experts. I have a flock of 5 that are about 10 months old and I feel like I am fighting a losing battle. Two months ago I found red roost mites in the coop during my weekly check. I treated the whole flock, and the coop with Permethrin and repeated as directed. After treatment I also painted the interior of the coop white so I could spot them easier if they should return. I check the roosting bars once a week at night with a white sheet of paper and have not found any more signs on them. Then a month later I found large dead round worms in my olive eggers poop. I treated the whole flock with safe guard equine paste, doing 25 ml per pound of bird for five days straight. I do not see anymore worms but my olive egger is still having really runny poops.

Now today I noticed one of my barred Rocks has multiple red bites along her legs. Is it possible this is just mosquito bites? We live in Florida and at night the mosquitos are quite bad, but will they bite chickens like this? Or are the red coop mites back? Another option is fire ants, as there is no shortage of those either.

As I mentioned we live in Florida and it’s usually hot and humid. My five are in a 8x8 hoop coop with a raised 4x5 coop inside that they use only for sleeping and laying. I clean the coop and the run daily of poop. They get the occasional treat but I have stopped all treats and I have only been feeding organic all flock crumbles since finding and treating the round worms. They free range for a couple hours a day while we are home but are otherwise kept in the run.

Is there anymore I can do or anything I did wrong in either of my treatments? Thanks again!

I live in Florida. Parasites are common due to the heat and humidity. Your soil dictates how often you should worm your birds. Our soil is warm and moist most of the year and I worm my birds monthly with Valbazen or other wormers if I want to change it up.

All types of mites are a concern since they suck blood, cause anemia, then death. Red mites are especially dangerous because they can introduce spirochetes into the chickens bloodstream. It's tough for mites to bite through scales on the chickens feet and legs when it's easier to bite or chew through skin and suck blood.
Raised scales could possibly indicate scaly leg mites but I dont see that in the photos.

Mosquitos normally hit the comb. Early morning and late afternoon is when they are normally prevalent. They can cause fowl pox if they are infected with the virus and it will be passed into your chickens bloodstream. Fowl pox lesions can appear on the legs and feet as well as the wattles and comb. This is a possibility as to why there are red marks on the legs, but you'd also see lesions forming on the comb, wattles, and face areas as well.
Adding screen to your vents and entrance to the coop will help deter mosquitos from entering the coop.

Fire ants are a problem. They can sting any part of a chicken. Luckily, from my experience, chickens avoid fire ants. Look around in your pen for fire ants, they tend to go after spilled chicken feed on the ground. Permethrin dust will take care of them. DE is useless, worthless and a waste of money.
As for feeding your chickens goes; continue with what you're doing.
For now, simply observe your chickens. There's not much else you can do. If it's fowl pox, you'll know it once lesions appear on the wattles and comb. Then we'll discuss how to go about treating it.

 

[Jlwarn92]

It sounds to me like you're a great chicken mom!

After worming, they need probiotics, like Greek yogurt, fermented feed, Hydro Hen, ACV with mother (1 TBS/gallon every other day at most), etc.

As for the bites on the feet, mites can do that. I hate to say retreat them all but seems that's what I'd do. Some won't agree with me on this, but we've kept mites at bay here on our silkies which can be a challenge, by sprinkling food-grade diatomaceous earth bi-monthly.

Good luck!

Thank you so much! She’s the only one with the bites and she roosts in the middle of the bar which is why I was hoping it wasn’t those darn moves again!!

 

[Jlwarn92]

I live in Florida. Parasites are common due to the heat and humidity. Your soil dictates how often you should worm your birds. Our soil is warm and moist most of the year and I worm my birds monthly with Valbazen or other wormers if I want to change it up.

All types of mites are a concern since they suck blood, cause anemia, then death. Red mites are especially dangerous because they can introduce spirochetes into the chickens bloodstream. It's tough for mites to bite through scales on the chickens feet and legs when it's easier to bite or chew through skin and suck blood.
Raised scales could possibly indicate scaly leg mites but I dont see that in the photos.

Mosquitos normally hit the comb. Early morning and late afternoon is when they are normally prevalent. They can cause fowl pox if they are infected with the virus and it will be passed into your chickens bloodstream. Fowl pox lesions can appear on the legs and feet as well as the wattles and comb. This is a possibility as to why there are red marks on the legs, but you'd also see lesions forming on the comb, wattles, and face areas as well.
Adding screen to your vents and entrance to the coop will help deter mosquitos from entering the coop.

Fire ants are a problem. They can sting any part of a chicken. Luckily, from my experience, chickens avoid fire ants. Look around in your pen for fire ants, they tend to go after spilled chicken feed on the ground. Permethrin dust will take care of them. DE is useless, worthless and a waste of money.
As for feeding your chickens goes; continue with what you're doing.
For now, simply observe your chickens. There's not much else you can do. If it's fowl pox, you'll know it once lesions appear on the wattles and comb. Then we'll discuss how to go about treating it.

I can’t thank you enough for this response! Absolutely helped reassure me and some really great advice for our climate. I have been seeing small lesions on some of their combs but there are only one or two on each bird and do not seem to be worsening.

 

[Debbie292d]

DE is useless, worthless and a waste of money.

Not to start an argument whatsoever, but I've been using it for 20 years before I got chickens in my two macaw parrot cages and other things. It's done its job as a preventative for the silkies too. Does it work for an outbreak? Never had one so I wouldn't know but surely doubt it and I'd be looking at your other suggestions then.

 

[dawg53]

Not to start an argument whatsoever, but I've been using it for 20 years before I got chickens in my two macaw parrot cages and other things. It's done its job as a preventative for the silkies too. Does it work for an outbreak? Never had one so I wouldn't know but surely doubt it and I'd be looking at your other suggestions then.

You'll learn...eventually.